MILLER GROUP, Britain’s largest privately owned building and construction company, has opened its first factory outlet in Hungary in a 50-50 joint venture with the Austrian bank Raiffeisen.

The Premier Outlets centre, the Edinburgh group’s third joint venture in Europe, was opened by John Nichols, the British ambassador to Hungary.

The 52-unit, 145,300-sq-ft retail scheme, 15 minutes west of Budapest, attracted 33,000 shoppers during the first four days of trading. About 90% of the units were let prior to the opening to tenants including Nike, Adidas, Fila, Pepe Jeans, Mexx, Levis Dockers and Calvin Klein.

Phil Miller, Miller Developments’ chief executive, said the scheme was part of the company’s planned expansion into Europe, always with a joint venture partner.

“We do all our European business through joint venture partners,” he said. “If you like the partner, you can work much more quickly.

“The overwhelming reaction of the Hungarian public underlines the market demand for high-quality, well-located schemes such as this.”

For Miller, the management of factory outlet sites is crucial. “These are more like department stores than shopping centres to operate,” he said.